“Not to put too fine a point on this, but does anyone have any idea what we’re up to, other than jumping in and hoping we don’t end up slaughtered?” Raleigh asked mildly, hoping First wasn’t the type to get offended when someone pointed out a hole in his logic.

First snorted. “Nev won’t touch you.”

“That’s nice.” Did he assume she was that shallow because he had been raised to consider himself expendable, or had she given him reason to believe she valued him that little? “But that still leaves you and Third as open targets. And if Nev’s taken Janni, she might go after TamLin, too, even though he isn’t from your universe.”

“That’s our problem.”

Raleigh stared at him sidelong as she strode with him. He truly was that clueless.

She stopped outright, and he kept on walking.

Well, that attempt to catch his attention failed. She huffed and jogged back up. “Jumping in without a plan might’ve suited whatever was wrong back in your hellverse, but if you do it now, it could get everyone killed. Nev’s evidently here by herself, right? What if she’s set traps?”

First gave her an odd look.

“Alert systems, tripwires, darts, lasers—there are all sorts of things she could set up so she doesn’t even have to touch you before—”

“If Nev’s set anything, it’ll be a contact poison,” First said blithely, and Raleigh shivered. “She’s a medic, not a soldier. Makes her decent with assassination, but the only reason she’d likely trump us in a fair fight is none of her mods are throttled. Even not-that-great reflexes don’t matter so much if you’re naturally faster than the better-trained person.”

Raleigh bit her tongue. She didn’t understand enough about the soft mods to properly comprehend what he was saying, but…

She clutched the collar of her shattersilk coat and let herself fall back behind First. She stared at his heels as she followed.

He noticed. She knew he noticed. But didn’t even pause.

Could be misogyny or disinterest in her as a person, but she suspected it had more to do with the detail that she was properly Named. So technically, by the laws that governed him, she was someone for him to protect, not someone for him to fight beside.

Raleigh grimaced. While she appreciated not being used as cannon fodder or treated as a tool, she didn’t care for the ignoring of what she could bring to the coming battle and discussion. “Shouldn’t we catch up to Third and TamLin?”

She was admittedly concerned that TamLin might, perhaps, be taking out his temper on Third now that the girl was without anyone to stop him. Between the drug addiction and the convoluted, horrific laws governing the Nameless…

First snorted. “I’m a First. Nev can’t touch me. She’ll be leery of TamLin. And Third can merge into her surroundings and keep Nev from”—he tapped the side of his head—“hearing her.”

He jerked his chin forward, and Raleigh glimpsed the red glint to Third’s dark hair as the girl slipped down an alley up ahead. The two of them caught up and followed, twisting around trash bins and refuse and furniture and a discarded vehicle until Raleigh nearly stumbled over TamLin and Third. The pair were inconspicuously crouched amid the mess. Their posture and positions fit perfectly with the surroundings, almost minimizing the detail that their clothing was too clean.

Raleigh thought they made a cute couple, but she had enough sense to avoid saying as much. For all she knew, even that appearance could ‘warrant’ Third another beating.

“They’re the next warehouse down,” TamLin said. “Cams put Janni along the south wall.”

They were a little northwest of the building.

“Third’ll merge and sneak around to let Janni out,” TamLin continued. “First, you’re with me. We’ll see if we can distract Nev, get in a good position to take her out. Raleigh, try to stay out of the way. I’d rather not have to explain to Janni how I got you killed. Thanks.”

He was trying to be polite, not insulting, Raleigh reminded herself, but she still wanted to smack him. She hadn’t come along just to stand around and look pretty.

But she held her tongue and let the three of them proceed as directed.

And then, once she was the only one of them standing out in that alley, she pulled up her software and reactivated things she preferred leaving forgotten. The too-familiar metallic taste bit her tongue, and she strode around the building towards the private entrance her scans had noticed.

Nev wasn’t the only fully functional representative of a violent universe at that warehouse.